NBA MVP Rankings: Giannis & Paul George rising, Luka falls, Joel Embiid “clear #1” | Hoops Tonight

NBA MVP Rankings: Giannis & Paul George rising, Luka falls, Joel Embiid “clear #1” | Hoops Tonight

All right welcome to Hoops tonight here at the volume happy Friday everybody hope all of you guys had an incredible week here’s a quick breakdown of how this weekend is going to go because as you know I’m leaving to go to Breen Ridge tomorrow and I’m not getting back

Till Wednesday Today’s Show is just going to be our MVP rankings then later this afternoon I’m recording with the nerd sesh guys we picked 11 teams that are my top tier of contenders plus some of the teams that are kind of On The Fringe we’re going to play a game of

Higher or lower whether or not we’re higher on the team than we were to start the season or lower on the team than we were to start the season we’re recording that today that’ll be released over the course of the time while I’m gone and then I’m also recording the mailbag

Today that’ll be running while I’m out of town so Saturday Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday we’ll have lots of mailbag content and we’re going to be doing a check-in basically a midseason check-in on all of the contenders with the nerd sesh guys but in this episode just covering our MVP rankings you guys

Know the drill before we get started subscribe to our brand new YouTube channel so you don’t miss any more of our videos it mean a lot to me if you guys would take a second to scroll down and hit subscribe don’t forget about our podcast feed if you’re more into that

Format you can find that wherever you get your podcast under Hoops tonight follow me on Twitter _ jlt so you guys don’t miss show Ann announcements as well as the film threads that I do in the morning and then last but not least keep dropping mailbag questions in the

YouTube comments so we can hit them throughout the season all right let’s talk some basketball so I’m dropping three guys out from our list two weeks ago dear and fox because the kings are on a four game slide things are looking really Bleak out there in Sacramento Tyres Burton uh just because he’s

Injured and so I want to use this list to kind of highlight other players obviously if he comes back he’ll rejoin the list and with Pascal seum here in Indie I I shouldn’t say here there in Indie I would expect him to be back on the list before too long and then lastly

Kawhi Leonard I’m dropping out not because kawhai is not doing very well but simply because Paul George has been the Clippers best player for the last few weeks and so I just want to highlight him specifically obviously I still view Kawai as a an MVP candidate

For but for the purpose of this list I want to highlight Paul George today all right let’s get started number 10 Donovan Mitchell the Cavs are RedHot they’ve won 11 of their last 14 games Donovan Mitchell in that span 30 points five rebounds and seven assists per game

On 49% from the field 37% from three and 88% from the line but it’s the defensive end that I want to highlight in this particular segment that’s where I’ve been most impressed by him this season he’s having the best defensive season of his career in my opinion his speed makes

Him really useful especially in helping recover situations obviously they’re using Isaac aoro more on the ball but what Donovan Mitchell can do is he can dig down on a post player dig down into a driving lane while also having the speed to chase Shooters off the line

It’s made him really useful and here’s the thing the Cavs have lost two of their top four players and they’ve been Trucking right along and that mostly has to do with Donovan Mitchell all right number nine Jaylen Brunson the Knicks have won eight out of their last 10

Games and some quality wins in there they beat the Minnesota Timberwolves they also beat the Philadelphia 76ers with Joel embiid in the lineup and Jaylen Bruns has just been a steady Force for them all season 28 points per game four rebounds and eight assists in this 10 game span on 59% true shooting

Here’s a crazy stat for you guys Jaylen Brunson has a 76% effective field goal percentage on unguarded catch and shoot jump shots this season we always think about him on the ball but he’s been one of the best off ball players in the league this year in fact he’s been the

Very best spot up player in the league minimum 100 possessions he’s converting spot up possessions at 1.5 points per possession absolutely insane he is the best player on a team winning 60% of their games in an NBA that’s not easy to win 60% of your games in number eight Luca donic he’s played

In just three games in the last 14 days as he works his way back back from this ankle injury and the Mavs have lost three out of five so I’m dropping him down to eight just for right this moment number seven Anthony Edwards really starting to cook he averaged just 23.6

Points per game in his first 20 games this season on 44% shooting and 37% from three in his last 18 games 29 points per game 49% from the field and 39% from three and most importantly just in terms of his attitude and the way he carries himself on the court he’s really

Starting to feel like an alpha dog in this league we kind of saw this at first at Team USA right where he just kind of ascended above the group not just in the way he played but in the way he carried himself but that was mostly Bist NBA

Stars right now we’re starting to see that against the best players in the league like all of that span that last 18 games that encompasses that stretch where the Wolves played awesome teams every single night and he’s been insanely good in that stretch going toe-to-toe with the best players in the

League they’re outscoring opponents by seven points per 100 possessions in this span with him on the floor they have a 120 offensive rating with him on the floor all against quality opponents right 62% true shooting so an super efficient at that position which has been an issue for him in the past and

Again all against a gauntlet of insanely good opponents the rise of Anthony Edwards that we predicted on this show before the season is happening right before our eyes number six Paul George really gone up in aggressiveness since the New Year in his last eight games 28

Points per game to go with five rebounds and six assists on 69% true shooting he’s been the best player on his team in the last month or so dominating on and off the ball the shot creation stats are insane a Paul George postup has been worth 1.35 points per possession that is

The third best Mark in the league minimum 50 possessions so lower volume than the normal list that I pull for all the big you know centers that run hundreds of post-ups every single year but for like the relatively low volume guys minimum 50 possessions that’s third

Best in the league by the way for those of you who are curious number two haime hakz Jr on that list and christops porzingis at number one he’s at almost a point and a half christops has just been insane just like he was last year beating switches in the

Post Paul George is also getting 1.12 points per ISO that’s sixth out of 18 players to run at least 150 so he’s been one of the best high volume ISO players in the league this year and then really good and roll player too 1.03 points per pick and roll including passes that’s

27th out of 65 players to run at least 250 so been one of the best on ball guys in the league but he’s also been one of the best off-ball guys in the league is you know the one of the beautiful things about bringing James Harden on board is

He’s just getting a lot of Advantage situations where a guy’s closing out at him it’s funny when I work with my young kids the the high school kids that I coach we always work on King of the court but from the standpoint of attacking Closeouts because you know

It’s not that you don’t want to work on one-on-one stuff but primarily at that High School level I think one of the most important development aspects for a young player especially if you want to play at the next level because most college coaches they’re not just going

To let a dude cook in ISO all night long right like they’re running an offense and they’re trying to generate advantages so that a guy can play and that’s a huge uh play with an advantage and that’s a huge element to what makes a scorer a good score is you get 20

Shots in a game for a top tier score and we always think about post-ups isos and pick and rolls but a real good offense has flow you’re playing with five other players and the ability to attack with an advantage is so important and so I set up these kids with like you know

They’re throwing the ball out and closing out so they’re still playing King of the court but they’re working on offense on individual moves that you’ll actually use in a real basketball game more frequently than not right and this is this is an interesting stat for you 1.29 points per spot up possession from

Paul George fourth out of 45 players to run at least 100 50 so he’s been one of the very best spot up players in the league this year you give Paul George a Defender sprinting at him he’s going to knock down the catch and shoot shot if

You close out short and if you close out hard on him he’s got all of those close out attacking moves that higher level ISO attack with the defender sprinting at him which just makes him such a useful player on a team that has Kawhi Leonard and James Harden if they need

Him to initiate offense he can do so but when he’s off the ball while kawhai has it while Russ has it while James Harden has it he’s one of the best offensive players in the league in that type of setting which has made him super super useful and valuable on the Clippers he’s

Been the best player on that team for the last month or so the NBA season is in full swing and when I can’t get enough of the action on the court I things up by betting on draftking Sportsbook an official partner of the NBA right now new customers can bet five

Bucks and get 200 instantly in bonus bets I was looking at the lines for making the playoff today and you can get the Lakers at plus 115 to make the playoffs in the Warriors check this out at plus 205 to make the playoffs download the draftking Sportsbook app with code Hoops

That’s ho o o PS new customers can bet five bucks on the NBA and get 200 instantly in bonus bets only on draftking Sportsbook with code Hoops that’s ho o o PS the crown is yours number five Jason Tatum when he’s missing his pullup three he’s kind of

Like just below that top tier of superstars right just because he hunts that shot so much it’s like a third of his offense right but when he’s making it he looks like one of the best players in the league and he is making it right now in the Boston Celtics last 10 games

Jason Tatum has made 22 out of his 45 pull-up threes that’s 1.47 points per shot his effective field goal percentage on pull-up shooting has been ticking up all season he’s up to 46% in effective field goal percentage on the season now he clearly views that shot as his go-to

Move he actively hunts it we saw that in the Minnesota Timberwolves game the other night he gets Carl towns on a switch and he’s not looking to drive past him he’s looking to set him up for a pull-up three and if he can make it at anything close to that clip when they

Get to the playoffs just forget about anything else they’re just going to win the title like if if Tatum’s making 40% of his pull-up threes in the playoffs the Celtics are winning the title that’s just what’s going to happen number four nicoa joic the numbers aren’t super impressive by yic

Is St s since our last list 23 points 11 rebounds and N assists per game but he’s shooting 70% from the field and quite frankly he doesn’t really seem all that interested in winning MVP uh in fact I I would argue probably would I I I bet you

If we could give him some truth serum he’d be like I’d prefer not to right uh he took 12 shots total in a back-to-back in two games against the Jazz and Pistons last week like those are games where embiid’s trying to score trying to score trying to score and he’s getting

You know 40 points right Nicole yic is like oh it’s the Pistons I’m just not going to shoot this game and I’m just going to pass the ball around right you know so but even with that he’s just too good at basketball to not be high on

This list so I still have him at number four even if he’s not necessarily going after the award number three jannis and tenaca basically the one big bright spot with the Bucks this year the Bucks are weird they’re 28 and 13 which is the third best record in the league albeit

They’ve played a super easy schedule they’ve uh had the Third easiest schedule in the league so far and they have the eighth toughest remaining schedule so we’ll learn more about them in the long run but they’ve had these like super ugly like lifeless losses and their defense can be downright

Embarrassing at time like like imagine being the third best record in the league and you’re a bottom 10 defense like that’s not something you see very often in the NBA but Giannis is the reason they’re 28 and 13 he’s a nightly regular season wrecking ball right and

He carries them through most of their issues how about 31 points 12 rebounds and seven assists on 60% shooting since our last MVP list two weeks ago number two Shay just Alexander I made my first regular season NBA bet in a while last night I I love to bet the NBA Playoffs

Uh but I dislike betting I only place a handful of bets during the regular season because the wild swings and effort from every team from night to night between travel and who knows what they did last night if it was a one of their teammates birthday parties and

They all went out or they you know met with a friend in the city or something like that it’s just really difficult to to kind of predict that kind of stuff and those swings are much more easy to predict in the playoffs so I love betting the NBA when we get in the

Playoffs but I placed a bet on an NBA regular season game last night and the it was the Oklahoma City Thunder on the road in Utah I have this theory about the NBA regular season that really young and fast teams that play hard every night just will rack up wins like like

We’re literally seeing this with the Cavs as they’re down a bunch of talent but they’re just young and they’re fast right like Donovan Mitchell and Isaac Coro just bring this crazy straight line speed on both ends of the floor we’re seeing it with the Utah Jazz right now

Well the Oklahoma City Thunder are the best version of that the Jazz were 15 and five going into that game last night at home they had won nine in a row but I just had a feeling like yeah but you’re playing the Thunder they’re also young they also

Play hard every night they’re also super fast and they’re just better at it than the Utah Jazz and it ended up being a little bit close because every single time the Thunder ended up going up by 10 12 points the Jazz was just kind of battled back and and chip away but I

Ended up winning that one regular season bet I thought I just thought it was an interesting kind of like example of that regular season Dynamic that I’m talking about but sh gild Alexander has gone for 30 plus in 29 of his 40 games this season he shot over 50% from the field

In 26 of his 40 games this season he’s only shot below 40% from the field in in three games this year he is one of the most consistently productive and efficient scoring guards we’ve ever seen and if it wasn’t for joeel embiid he’d be winning the MVP this year but we have

A clear number one Joel embiid straight up snatched the soul of the Denver Nuggets the other night he’s the first guy I’ve seen in years singlehandedly discombobulate the Nuggets offense specifically at the end of a game just by bullying joic off his spots and denying him the basketball he’s the only

Guy in the league big and strong enough to do it we talked so much about his offense but he it was the defensive end where he blew up the nuggets in that particular game on the offensive side of things though here’s an absolutely crazy Joel embiid stat for you guys to close

The show out today it is more likely that Joel embiid scores 40 in a game than it is that he scores less than 30 he has eight 40-point games this year including two 50p pointers he has just five games below 30 points this season he’s a runaway

MVP in my opinion halfway through the season it’s kind of bizarre because I was looking at DraftKings this morning and they have joic at plus 240 and embiid at plus 250 I was surprised by that like I think embiid is clearly the better MVP candidate right now clearly

Wants it more like I I just think it’s very very obvious that Joel embiid is kind of headed in a freight train in that direction if well if it’s not for an injury I think Jo embiid is going to win the MVP this year I I think he’s one

Of the most clear-cut number ones we’ve had Midway through the season in a long time so shout out to Joel embiid all right guys that is all I have for this particular episode like I said recording a bunch of stuff the rest of today that we’re going to run throughout the

Weekend as always I appreciate you guys and I look forward to seeing you uh with the nerd sesh guys here in a little Bit

Jason Timpf shares his NBA MVP rankings including Paul George and Giannis Antetokounmpo’s dominant performances for the Clippers and Bucks, Luka Doncic falling on the list with his injuries and the Mavericks’ recent struggles, and Anthony Edwards becoming an “alpha dog” for the Timberwolves. Later, Jason discusses Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s sensational year and why Joel Embiid is a “clear #1” for MVP given his dominance with the 76ers this season.

Timeline:
00:00 – Weekend Schedule
01:20 – Who fell out of Top 10
02:03 – #10: Donovan Mitchell
02:58 – #9: Jalen Brunson
03:54 – #8: Luka Doncic
04:05 – #7: Anthony Edwards
05:25 – #6: Paul George
09:26 – #5: Jayson Tatum
10:25 – #4: Nikola Jokic
11:16 – #3: Giannis Antetokounmpo
12:05 – #2: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
14:10 – #1: Joel Embiid

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